Citation Nr: 0715057
Decision Date: 05/21/07 Archive Date: 06/01/07
DOCKET NO. 05-10 648 ) DATE
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On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St.
Petersburg, Florida
THE ISSUE
Entitlement to service connection for bilateral hearing loss
disability.
REPRESENTATION
Veteran represented by: The American Legion
WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL
Veteran
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD
P. Smith, Associate Counsel
INTRODUCTION
The veteran served on active duty from November 1980 to
October 1987.
This matter comes before the Board of Veterans' Appeals
(Board) on appeal from a March 2004 rating decision of the
St. Petersburg, Florida, Regional Office (RO) of the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which denied service
connection for bilateral hearing loss and tinnitus.
Subsequently, the RO granted service connection for tinnitus
and assigned a 10 percent disability rating in October 2006.
The veteran has not included tinnitus in his current appeal.
The veteran testified at a Board hearing at the RO in
February 2007.
The appeal is REMANDED to the RO via the Appeals Management
Center (AMC), in Washington, DC. VA will notify the
appellant if further action is required.
REMAND
Evidence from VA examinations is inconsistent with evidence
from the veteran's private physician, Dr. Greene. In a March
2002 letter, Dr. Greene diagnosed asymmetric bilateral
hearing loss. The veteran has had three private audiograms
showing some hearing loss, most recently in January 2007. He
has been afforded two VA examinations. In the February 2004
examination, the audiologist commented that a nonorganic
component to any hearing loss was strongly suspected and made
no diagnosis. In the April 2005 examination, the audiologist
found hearing to be within normal limits. However, she
recommended medical follow-up to rule out a retrocochlear
lesion due to absent contralateral reflexes for both ears.
A VA medical examination is required to review and reconcile
the contradictory audiometric examinations and findings, and
to evaluate the recent audiometric findings from the private
January 2007 examination. See Caffrey v Brown, 6 Vet App
377, 381, (1994).
Accordingly, the case is REMANDED for the following action:
1. The RO should schedule the veteran for
a VA audiological examination. All
indicated tests and studies should be
undertaken. If the veteran is diagnosed
with hearing loss, the examiner should
provide an opinion, considering all
evidence of record in the veteran's claims
folder, as to whether it is at least as
likely as not (i.e., is there at least a
50 percent probability) that any hearing
loss is related to service, including
presumed exposure to acoustic trauma as a
cannon crewman in the field artillery.
The examiner should reconcile any opinion
given with the April 2003 and January
2007 private audiology reports and the
February 2004 and April 2005 VA
examination reports. A complete rationale
for any opinion expressed should be
offered.
2. Thereafter, VA should review the
veteran's claim. If any benefit remains
denied, VA should issue a supplemental
statement of the case to the veteran and
his representative, and provide an
appropriate opportunity for him or his
representative to respond.
The appellant has the right to submit additional evidence and
argument on the matter or matters the Board has remanded.
Kutscherousky v. West, 12 Vet. App. 369 (1999).
This claim must be afforded expeditious treatment. The law
requires that all claims that are remanded by the Board or by
the Court for additional development or other
appropriate action must be handled in an expeditious manner.
See 38 U.S.C.A. §§ 5109B, 7112 (West Supp. 2006).
_________________________________________________
THOMAS J. DANNAHER
Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals
Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 2002), only a decision of the
Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the Court. This
remand is in the nature of a preliminary order and does not
constitute a decision of the Board on the merits of your
appeal. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (2006).